Then again don't we all sometimes adopt the elbow on the window sill with the thumb and forefinger holding the steering wheel position...
>>>>>>>>yes but only when we are cruising ;-)
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15-3 is more universally accepted as the correct placement nowadays. I think it's due to most cars now having airbags. At 15-3 you're less likely to break your own nose with your arm if the airbag goes off.
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>> Then again don't we all sometimes adopt the elbow on the window sill with the thumb and forefinger holding the steering wheel position... >> >>>>>>>>yes but only when we are cruising ;-)
A peculiarly male habit, I think you'll find........
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The ones that really kill me are the people who drive with the palm of the right hand resting at 12 o'clock and the whole of the upper body leaning towards the middle of the car. They are possibly exactly the people who, when presented with incontrivertible evidence as to their error, would still not adopt a more suitable driving posture.
That'll be me then ! (well closer to 1 o clock), but I've never had any discomfort at all. Mabye the fact that I've got a really comfy padded elbow rest for my left elbow keep me upright, (plus an auto box).
But I'll keep an eye on that one.
Thanks
MTC
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I was a 12:00 person, a 6:30 person, an anywhere on the clock person when crusing.
Fortunately when laguna met bus and airbag met RF, I had had time to get hands into qtr to three, (it appears I had that as a natural brace reaction)
Hence airbag deployed correctly, without breaking arms, or forcing fists into nose. I have two nice burn scars on the insides of my forearms to prove I was correctly positioned.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I'm a 10 to 2 person except when tying my tie, when it's left knee (thus keeping right leg available for braking if required). Rest assured I only usually do this on motorways at about 80 - too dangerous to do it in suburban areas. ;-)
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I prefer twenty to four, with the wheel if adjustable as low as possible and the seat high. Very relaxed posture, as if reading the paper in an armchair.
Have a habit in town of driving with left hand on gearlever though. Difficult not to unless you drive an auto.
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A few years ago, on an advanced driving course with work, the instructor (ex-police) took a very dim view of not having your hands placed at 10 to 2 or quarter to 3. "Got a poorly 'arm, have we?" he said to my colleague who rested his arm on the door.
He said that you never knew when you were going to have to slam on the anchors and needed to be braced on the wheel. Whenever I'm starting to feel lazy, I think back to his comments.
And for anyone who likes to hang their right arm out of the window in the summer, I shudder to think what a side-swipe would do.
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And for anyone who likes to hang their right arm out of the window in the summer, I shudder to think what a side-swipe would do.
In Italy it's de riguer to hang your left arm out of the window in summer - with hand dangling in a slightly limp wristed way - this lets the cooling breeze travel up your left (short) shirt sleeve and cool your body down. Nothing much wrong with this as it leaves their right hand free to hold and talk on their mobile phone ..................and smoke a cigarette.
Jacks
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remember what happened to the now one armed drummer of def leppard.He crashed into a wall near where i used to live in Sheffield.He had his arm out of the window.OOPS !
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>>He had his arm out of the window
I don't think so. I think you'll find he had put his arm through the seatbelt without clipping the seat belt in. When the time came to separate from his seat with some force, he did so without his arm which the seatbelt hung on to.
IIRC that is, and I may not.
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I know it's not what the thread is actually about, but to clear this up and avoid any further potential defamation of the sort I've just removed from TVM's post (congratulations, by the way, on being my first edit button victim), here is the BBC version of what happened to that drummer (who I've never heard of, hence am not sure if TVM's comment could lower him in the opinon of the public, but better safe than sorry).
www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A8379390
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"but Rick's left arm was severed at the shoulder, torn off by the seatbelt as he was thrown"
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am not sure if TVM's comment could lowerhim in the opinon of the public, but better safe than sorry).
I remember what TVM said, PG, and I'm sure it would have raised him in the estimation of the rock audience public which is the only one that matters to a deaf leopard ...
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In Italy it's de riguer to hang your left arm out of the window in summer - with hand dangling in a slightly limp wristed way - this lets the cooling breeze travel up your left (short) shirt sleeve and cool your body down. Nothing much wrong with this as it leaves their right hand free to hold and talk on their mobile phone ..................and smoke a cigarette.
And if you're a Greek 'taxi' driver (the 'taxi' was a flatbed pickup with three passengers in the cab and nine of us in the back) you have your left arm out of the window, fingers drumming on the roof in time to the music, after it has finished the one handed roll-up which is now lit and in lips, while talking on mobile clenched under tilted head while steering with knees because right hand is resting on my wife's thigh, Grrrrrr. All taking place while going up a mountain pass in Crete with a breathtaking drop on one side, our side, of the road, not that the side of the road mattered because he mostly drove up the middle.
It was one of those moments where you abandon you life to the grace of your god. I'll never forget it to my dying day.
Not quite sure he would have understood the subleties between 10-2 or 15-3!
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>>And for anyone who likes to hang their right arm out of the window in the summer, I shudder to think what a side-swipe would do.
When I lived in Kuwait, I saw just this happen; a bus performing a crafty U-turn smashed the vertically dangling arm of a Toyota crew cab taxi driver before he had chance to bring it back inside the open window.
Not nice.
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I remember during my IAM pre-test my examiner saying "I do like to see the thumbs up".
So (if their teaching is right) anywhere between quarter to 3 and ten to two is Good, but with your thumbs pointed upwards along the wheel instead of hooked around it. I believe this is so you don't break your thumbs in the event of a head on (like Clarkson once did when testing something)
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if you inadvertantly hit a kerb at walking distance depending where your digits are they could get broken although i always remember the aftermarket steering wheels worse for this where there was no padding on the spokes,i suppose murphy the cats lard tank ;-) this wouldnt apply
sorry murph nothing personal i quite like them actually......
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I find 5 past 6 or 7 pretty comfortable, also sometimes 5 to 1 with elbows resting on the lower part of the wheel. In these days of power steering virtually any position and one little finger or palm will do - it's not as if steering actually uses any muscles. 10 to 2 dates from the days of heaving a 2 ton car with a 2 foot steering wheel and no power assistance.
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You're a radical slob CP, bit like me (why am I the only twenty-to-four supporter? Used to be the main rival to ten to two).
I was touched by the New Zealand story the other day about an armless driver, reclined his seat and used right foot on the pedals - auto I guess - and left on steering wheel. Plod were surprised to see this and pulled him, but it was decided he wasn't dangerous and so he was allowed to continue. Excellent.
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I am with you lud. My crusing grip is 20 to 4, One elbow on the door armrest and one on the central seat armrest. The the hand on the end of door armrest arm is used for nose picking when required.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I always use 1/4 to 3 when driving enthusiastically because for me it seems to give the best feel and control. I do tend to use 20 to 4 on motorways though.
I note with amusement the right hand at 12:00, leaned towards the middle lot have been mentioned. The local chavs do it. The trick seems to be not to grip the wheel at all, but to simply rest the inside of the wrist on the top of the wheel, with the hand hanging limply over the top.
You get extra marks for a "hard" stare and a stereo with >=50% of the power of the engine.
Cheers
DP
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the hand on the end of door armrest arm is used for nose picking when required. ------------------------------ TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
We've all seen you doing it ...ugh!!.......but we've been too polite to mention it. !!!
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As I've stated before in similar threads, I drive with a modified 15 - 3. Modified in that it's actually about 25 - 3. I dislocated my left shoulder a few years back and it gets tired and achey quite quickly if I hold the upper quarter rather than lower quarter of the wheel.
Added to that problem, I might need to modify my right hand for a few weeks too. I just tore the ligament of the little finger on my right hand and it's now in a splint for 6 weeks. Doesn't really affect my driving, except as my hand sweeps rouind when turning it switches my windscreen wipers on and off.
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Don't wave to any strangers BB. They might think you've invented a new rude gesture just for them.
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I'll bear that in mind.
I've already realised that I can't point at things, or give someone a thumbs up. They look like I've doing 'the Jovi', or telling someone the 'phone's rung for them, respectively.
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>>It's now in a splint for 6 weeks
As Dom DeLuise said to Burt Reynolds in Cannonball Run "It only hurts when I point" ;-)
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I prefer twenty to four
Me too. This enables me to sit as far from the steering wheel as possible. I've seen someone with the steering column stuck in their chest (admittedly before seatbelts became compulsory) and it wasn't a nice sight.
--
L\'escargot.
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Have a habit in town of driving with left hand on gearlever though.
Not a good idea. It can cause premature wear on the synchromesh.
--
L\'escargot.
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Not a good idea. It can cause premature wear on the synchromesh. -- L\'escargot.
If one leans on it towards one of the gears, then yes, but I don't. Just rest the hand lightly on it between changes which, in this town, come at the rate of five or ten a minute...
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If one leans on it towards one of the gears, then yes, but I don't. Just rest the hand lightly on it between changes which, in this town, come at the rate of five or ten a minute...
Err No. It depends very much on the gear lever to gearbox linkage, but I wore out a Sierra gearbox in 38k miles by gently resting a hand on the top of the lever in no particular direction.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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what surprises me is how few drivers in television programmes drive at 10-2 0r 3-15, even area car drivers in The Bill,( do real life coppers drive differently??) so prehaps I shouldn't be so surprised at how Joe Public, position their hands whilst driving
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Hi,
How about this position for truly weird.
My wife was recently driven by her brother and was amazed to find his hands in the 11 - 1 position, not so bad,
BUT, R hand was at 11 and L hand at 1 !!
Air bag would probably blow both his arms off?
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Almost impossible to visualise - sounds unbelievable. Does he feed the wheel from hand to hand, or just swing both arms together? Don't they get tied in knots? It sounds impossible to have proper control- a bit like that trick of getting someone to hold a cup and saucer in one hand, and then grap the wrist with the other hand - impossible to stop it spilling.
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I hold the steering wheel at what feels most comfortable at the time.
Twisty bits. both hands on the wheel; most times 10 to 2, or 9 to 3.
Straight road. one arm on the arm rest or door sill, or on the gear lever.
Motorway. lower part of the wheel, often with back of hands resting on my legs; or poked through the upper part of the steering wheel, tapping away on the dashboard above the speedo pod in time with whatever tune happens to be blasting out of the stereo.
or if no ones looking, one hand on the wheel, and a digit from the other hand up my nose ;o)
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We all pick our noses DD, but most of us are modest about this accomplishment, shy even.
Think of all the germs on your steering wheel!
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Think of all the germs on your steering wheel!
It adds to the flavour Lud.
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The Skype text-message facility has a range of smileys including one that is vomiting green vomit. I feel we need some of these on this website.
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Didn't some of the continental racing drivers of the early 1950's drive with their arms crossed? I think it was so they could sit nice and close to the big steering wheel.
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........just going back to the ex-police driving instructor who I mentioned before - he regarded a sloppy attitude to steering wheel grip (i.e. anything other than 10 to 2 or quarter to 3) as indicative of an ill-disciplined approach to driving in general. He would have concluded, with the admissions so far, that a fair few Backroomers had a sloppy attitude to driving. Can this possibly be true???
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........just going back to the ex-police driving instructor who I mentioned before - he regarded a sloppy attitude to steering wheel grip (i.e. anything other than 10 to 2 or quarter to 3) as indicative of an ill-disciplined approach to driving in general.
IMO it is not important how or where you hold the wheel as long as you are comfortable and you can steer accurately in all situations.
I was condsidering doing an Advanced Driving course earlier this year so I practiced holding the wheel at 10 to 2 and 'push and pull' steering. At first I found it jerky and awkward, but I persevered and got quite smooth at it, but still found it cumbersome and totally unnecessary. What surprised me was that because you're having to support the weight of your arms on the wheel at all times, you have to grip the wheel a lot tighter than I normally do, which IMO is not so comfortable or relaxing.
In my current car I hold the wheel at 25 to 3, or just 3 o'clock with left hand resting on the handbrake, as I find this most comfortable. If turning a corner, I modify my grip when necessary.
If a police driving instructor thinks this is sloppy then thats his opinion but I've never had a problem (ie. loss of control) steering the way I do.
;o)
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I watched a video of a ferrari test driver recently and what was vey noticeable was he was at 10 -2 all the time. No passing the wheel through his hands etc and he was always in complete control regardless of speed and road/track conditions etc.
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Ferraris used to be notorious for a more vertical steering column angle than in other fast cars.
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